On Saturday morning January 4, 11, and 18th we’ve been working with people interested in getting their amateur radio Technician Class license. About ten people have been attending the class and struggling through learning Ohms Law and the related mathematics.

Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to get ready to take the Extra class exam. And I’m also struggling through the mathematics! This time it has to do with figuring out phase angles, polar and planar coordinates, reactance, capacitance, admittance and some other kind if “ense”. I was hoping to be ready for the exam this past Saturday. I’m not even close. Online classes may be a help. Two that I’ve found include:

http://www.hamradiolicenseexam.com/ and http://www.hamclass.net/

The Ham Test Online costs $34.95 for a two-year subscription. The On Line Ham Radio Class is $99 … an almost 3x difference. Which is better? I don’t know. For now, I’ll start with the $34.95 price tag and see how that works. Maybe from there I’ll learn why phase angles for inductors is important.